Musicians, Sick of Playing to an Empty Room? 5 Text Blast Ideas to Re-Engage Your Fans

Despite having a loyal following, if your fans don’t show up for your gigs, you as a musician stand to lose a lot of money and added exposure.

That’s because shows aren’t just where you get to play your music for fans; they’re also where you make most of your income.

Without a packed house, you’ll miss out on all the revenue tied to selling merchandise like t-shirts and actual copies of your CD without the middleman cut in profits.

You’ll also make less in incentives offered by venues, like earning a percentage of the total bar sales.

Translation: If you don’t bring as many fans to your shows as possible, it’s almost impossible to make a decent living as a musician.

So what’s the best way artists can connect with their fans and increase sales? By using mass texts and text blasts.

With these, you can bypass crowded email inboxes and social media algorithms that constantly change to connect on a deeper level with your fans and build a loyal community around them.

You can also use them to drive traffic to your upcoming shows.

And, as we’ll touch on in this guide, they can also be helpful for re-engaging fans who’ve gone MIA.

But to get started with texts blasts, you need to create a subscriber list first.

How to Build Your Text Blast Subscriber List

In the same way, access to stream music has changed, so has the idea of connecting with your fan base.

While you may have millions of followers on social media, this doesn’t guarantee a packed house or sold-out merchandise each month.

So instead of relying on social media to drive traffic, it pays to start building your text message subscriber list.

To start building your list, begin collecting your fan’s phone numbers, and obtaining consent to message them, on your website and at your live shows and meet-and-greets.

Slowly but surely you’ll turn a handful of names and phone numbers into a loyal community you can stay in touch with.

And you should touch base consistently to keep your fans engaged and excited for what’s to come.

While starting your list and staying in touch with your subscribers is the first step to using a business SMS to pack the house, what happens if you need to take a creative break, hiatus, or go weeks without a gig booked?

You don’t want to take the radio silence approach and stop interactions with your fans.

Instead, you’ll want to use these text blast strategies to keep subscribers eager and engaged.

Re-Engage Sleepy Fans Using These 5 Text Blast Ideas

Instead of always looking for new subscribers, it’s smarter to re-engage the fans you already have.

After all, at one point they showed you how much they enjoyed your music (i.e., by signing up for your subscriber list), so why not give them a good reason to come back?

These tips will help you grab and keep their attention:

#1: Start with a Reintroduction Text

Every few weeks, you should clean up your subscriber list to ensure you’re only sending messages to fans who are really interested in your music.

By weeding people out, you’ll create a targeted list filled with fans who actually want to be engaged with your messages, which only helps you build a community of devoted fans.

To do this, send a reintroduction text blast every few weeks to any fans who haven’t opened your text messages in a while.

You can sweeten the incentive for them to take further action by offering a discount, like a free song download or 10% off tickets to your upcoming show if they buy two.

Do this and you’ll wake up fans who’ve disappeared fast.

And if you lose a few along the way, that’s okay too; you don’t want people who aren’t really engaged to stay on your subscriber list and mess up your open rates.

Another good idea is drumming up excitement with a fun giveaway.

#2: Host a Text-Only Giveaway

If you really want to capture your dormant fans’ attention, you may have to up the ante with a good ol’ fashioned giveaway.

Do you have merchandise, tickets to your next event, or a collectible you can share with these subscribers to entice them to return?

By hosting a text-only giveaway with your subscribers and publicizing it on your social media pages, your fans will share this info with those who may not even be on your list.

Simply add a few rules for all who wish to enter, such as sharing the giveaway via social media or entering the contest by opting into your list, and you’ll be amazed by all who respond.

But you don’t have to only resort to giving away free stuff to keep your fans interested.

Your real supporters want insider information about what’s next on your horizon. And this next tip will show you how to deliver.

#3: Share Your Latest Tracks Before They Officially Launch

Another solid strategy to re-engage your sleepy fans is to send them a snippet or full-length preview of your latest track in a text blast.

Your new songs — and the feeling of being part of an exclusive club — will reignite the interest of even the most inactive fans.

You may also be able to spread your reach further if they decide to share your new track with their friends and family.

Speaking of that, if you really want to raise awareness and engagement with your mass texts, give one lucky fan the chance to win the ultimate VIP experience and it may change both your lives.

#4: Offer Sleepy Fans the Chance to Visit Your Studio

Who wouldn’t want the chance to experience behind-the-scenes magic as their favorite performer works on new material?

While you know for certain superfans would do almost anything for this opportunity, this strategy may also wake up sleepy fans who fell off the bandwagon.

With this impossible-to-pass-up offer, you’ll have more fans opting into your subscriber list and engaging with your messages in no time.

This same happens when you use this last text blast strategy on our list.

#5: Ask Your Fans for Their Opinion

Sometimes your quiet fans just want to be heard.

Voter surveys are a non-invasive way for you to hear what they have to say using your text message channel.

To do this, send your sleepy fans a text with a link to a short survey or voting poll at the end of the message. Think of questions like where you should hold your next show or names for your next remix.

When you receive the answers, make sure to share them with your subscribers so they know their opinions are really being heard and matter.

Follow these tips and you’ll wake your fans right up with very little effort on your end.

Re-Engage Your Fans Using Text Blasts Today

If you’re having trouble packing venues and selling out merchandise, it may be time to consider using a different approach: text blasts.

Mass texts allow you to keep in touch, build a community of loyal fans, re-engage quiet ones, and drive people to your shows.

To get started, all you need is a reliable business SMS service capable of handling as many superfans as you dream of having.

Start your text blast list and you’ll be able to grow your brand and spread your music to more fans all over the world.

Learn more about the features and benefits of our online sms service and sign up for a free trial account today!

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